The Official
Website of the
International
Sailing Federation

The French duo set a new monohull record for the race course from Le Havre - Puerto Limon. They improve the previous 2009 record by one hour and seven minutes.

The two men hugged each other, Dick is now a three times winner of this race and twice winner of the double handed Barcelona World Race round the world. He is unbeaten in IMOCA Open 60 double handed races. Local Caribbean bands greeted the winners of the 2011 edition in the very early hours of the morning.

Their elapsed time is 15d 18h 15m 54s. Their average speed course on the theoretical course of 4730 miles is 12.51 knots. They have traveled 5167 miles on the water at an average speed of 13.66 knots.

The Race Of Virbac-Paprec 3

Jean Pierre Dick has always formed winning IMOCA Open 60 partnerships.

It is the third victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre for Jean Pierre Dick. He won at his first attempt with Nicolas Abiven in 2003, again in 2005 with Loïc Peyron, the partner with whom he then went on to win this year's Barcelona World Race, double handed around the world. Dick also won the Barcelona World Race in 2007-8 with Irish co-skipper Damian Foxall.
Jérémie Beyou wins his first major IMOCA Open 60 race, racing for the first time in an offshore race partnership with Dick after victory in this summer's solo Solitaire du Figaro in the Figaro class.

Jean-Pierre Dick remains unbeaten in the IMOCA Class in the double-handed discipline.

Eleven Days By The North Face

In fact Virbac-Paprec 3 lead out of the bay of Le Havre, passing the General Metzinger buoy, but the win of Virbac-Paprec 3 has its foundations on two major strategic decisions. On the morning of Sunday 6 November, after Wednesday's start, while passing the longitude of the Azores and setting up for the third big system since the start, the majority of the IMOCA Open 60 fleet hold south to escape the worst of the bad weather. Virbac Paprec 3 stay on the north routing with Hugo Boss and with Bureau Vallée and Gamesa. By the next day, 7 November on the 11:00hrs positions report Virbac-Paprec 3 are in the lead again and are never passed. Ten different IMOCA Open 60'd lead the race at different stages, Safran, Groupe Bel, Cheminées Poujoulat, Bureau Vallée, Hugo Boss, Macif, Banqe Populaire and PRB.

The second gain is two days later when the main groupe again stay south to seek the trade winds and end up struggling for breeze, and the three in the north always profit. On 11 November their margin to Macif in third is 305 miles. So their northern route was the hardest, but the most effective, experiencing the strongest winds and biggest seas. They broke nothing major and paced themselves perfectly.

Transat Jacques Vabre Website